OCHO RIOS, St Ann — Several councillors in St Ann who are tasked with choosing candidates for the seasonal farm work programme have called on the Ministry of Labour to provide them with criteria to determine those deemed fit for the programme.

Their call comes after what they said were mounting complaints from residents who were not accepted to the programme based on their physical attributes.

“The Ministry of Labour should give us a list with the criteria so we can show it to the individuals and explain to them that this is the criteria we have to follow because I have recommended persons and they were told that are too fat, that they don’t look like no farm worker, and all these type of things,” said Councillor Lambert Weir (People’s National Party, Claremont Division).

He was speaking during Thursday’s monthly meeting of the St Ann Municipal Corporation.

“I think there are shifts in the system that need to be highlighted because we have never received any instructions as to weight and so on before and I have never heard of it,” Weir said.

He told his peers that some applicants in his division have had their hopes shattered after being denied.

“We are not in the position to tell them that they are too fat so we can’t give them an application form; then when they go in for interview this is what they face. I have recommended persons that weigh 200 pounds back then and now the system has changed and others can’t get through,” he argued.

Councillor Genevor Gordon-Bailey (Jamaica Labour Party, Lime Hall Division) said she had also heard of applicants being turned away because of their weight. She noted that being rejected, in general, takes a toll on applicants, who go through a lot to be considered for the programme.

“I have had persons that it was really depressing for them after going there and they tell them that they are too fat, and I think it is discriminating. Their criteria are not out there in the public but when they go they are being turned down. They need to give us the criteria so we can say to the people that if they are more than 150 pounds, etc, they are not going to pass,” she urged.

However, Councillor Dallas Dickenson (JLP, St Ann’s Bay Division) said the weight guidelines are nothing new.

“There have always been certain requirements such as weight and age, for especially the females, because once the person is over certain pounds they won’t take them,” he said.